“This is so embarrassing,” you think as you take a call from your field service technician. He’s at the customer’s site, and he doesn’t have the right part.
The part number is there on the work order. So how did this happen?
At the job site, the technician starts opening bins in his van. Maybe it got put somewhere else. Maybe there’s one buried under a pile of fittings. The customer watches in frustration, calculating how much this downtime is costing him.
Back at the shop, you make calls. Does Van 9 have one? No. What about Van 10? Nobody knows. Can someone check the warehouse? Sure, but even if the warehouse has it, somebody has to get it to the job site.
Eventually, the technician has to tell the customer that he doesn’t have the part and that they will need to come back. The machine is still down, the customer has lost a day, and you’ve got another service visit to squeeze into an already busy schedule.
The worrisome part is, this isn’t the first time it’s happened. And without a better way to keep track of what’s in each van, it won’t be the last.
The Part Was in Stock. Sort of.
How did this happen? The ERP shows 12 units in stock. The warehouse crew finds only four. It’s only later you discover the other eight are scattered across different vans and satellite locations, everywhere except where the technician and customer need them.
When it comes to field service inventory management, a familiar failure point is a count that’s accurate for the warehouse but useless for the job.
An analysis of more than 600,000 technician service records found that roughly one in seven onsite visits could have been avoided, usually because the technician arrived without the right part, the right information, or the right skill. (Source: Aquant)
One Missed Part Can Turn into Three Visits
Inventory accuracy matters to you, but your customer only cares about getting their machine up and running, preferably on the first visit. That’s called a first-time fix. Top-performing companies achieve an 86% first-time-fix rate, compared with 53% for other organizations. (Source: Aquant, 2025)
A technician can arrive on schedule, know the equipment inside out, and still leave without fixing anything because the replacement part is sitting in another van. Now he has to make another trip to finish a job that should’ve been done the first time.
On average, a failed first visit leads to 2.5 additional visits before the issue is resolved. (Source: Aquant via Field Services News)
The customer isn’t thinking about your warehouse inventory or your ERP. They just know the technician came out on Tuesday and the machine is still broken on Wednesday.
Track Stock Wherever It Lives
Field service inventory management would be simple if inventory lived solely in a warehouse. But stock also lives in vans, satellite locations, and shelves that have become unofficial homes for parts nobody wants to lose.
The fix is straightforward: Start using van stock-tracking software that treats every van and satellite stocking location as a tracked inventory point, just like the warehouse. A technician closes out a work order after using two bearings from Van 7. The software records that consumption against the vehicle, so its stock level drops in real time and remains tied to the job that used the parts.
From there, field service parts visibility makes restocking proactive instead of reactive. If a vehicle’s supply of a fast-moving part falls below a set threshold, the shop can see it and replenish the vehicle before the next job that needs it.
To create a truly well-oiled system, extend the same visibility to the vehicles themselves. Track mileage, service intervals, and preventive maintenance schedules, so a vehicle problem doesn’t become the reason for a missed appointment.
Make the First Visit Count
Good technicians take pride in solving problems on the first try. Driving out to a job, finding the right part isn’t there, and then having to make another trip for work that should’ve been finished the first time wears on a person. Customers see the frustration too, and they tend to direct their ire at whoever’s standing in front of them, which is rarely fair to the technician holding the clipboard.
Repeat visits cost fuel and payroll, and they can also push good technicians toward the door. Skilled technicians are already hard to find in this trade, and a job that adds avoidable frustration day after day gives them one more reason to look elsewhere. Van stock visibility protects margin and first-time-fix rates, but it also gives technicians a better chance to do the job right the first time.
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DISCLAIMER: The information in this article reflects the views and opinions of Novobi, based on publicly available information, and is intended for informational purposes only. It is not legal or financial advice. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
